


Sick Is A Matter Of Perspective

by FiliKiliThorinForever



Series: We Are One [4]
Category: Being Human (UK), The Almighty Johnsons
Genre: M/M, Sick!Anders, Sickness, Storms, Stubborn!Anders, Worried!Mitchell, birthday fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-14
Updated: 2015-10-14
Packaged: 2018-04-26 08:44:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4998262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FiliKiliThorinForever/pseuds/FiliKiliThorinForever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A storm the likes of which Auckland hasn't experienced in ten years hits, cutting power and communication just as Mitchell goes to pick Anders up from a meeting. Despite being utterly saturated Mitchell thinks he managed to get Anders warmed up in time to fight off any nasty colds that could come from his exposure to the rain.</p><p>Sadly, he wasn't quite right.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sick Is A Matter Of Perspective

**Author's Note:**

  * For [xLilarosa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/xLilarosa/gifts).



> Happy (belated) birthday to my dear friend Lilarosa whose birthday was a couple of days ago, and the cheeky cow decided to tell me THE DAY BEFORE! So it was a mad scramble to write her something and seeing as she's enjoyed my other TAJ and BH fics I figured why not do another one and carry on with the series!
> 
> I had started on a different one but 2000 words through decided that it wasn't flowing as well as it should and so tada! This was created instead!
> 
> So happy birthday my dear! Hope you enjoy it! xx

* * *

 

Mitchell cursed as another boom of thunder rolled through the city, squinting as he peered out of the windscreen and double checked the cars lights were on high beam in an effort to see through the driving rain. The storm couldn’t have come at a worse time. Anders had had a business meeting on the other side of town and had chosen to walk through the park to meet him at the bus stop when his appointment had finished rather than bothering with the bus since his car broke down two days ago.

Their plan to meet up before going out for dinner had gone well, until a sudden and unexpected change in weather saw one of the worst storms Auckland had experienced in ten years. Before Mitchell had even had the chance to call his lover to find out where they would now meet the power went out for most of the city, the cell towers following right behind.

And then to top off what was already a troublesome afternoon his own car wouldn’t start.

How they’d managed to have two cars break down in a handful of days he had no idea, but it couldn’t have come at a worse time; he could only pray to whichever God felt like humouring him Anders had managed to get out of the rain in time.

After an urgent rush back into the hospital so someone could help jump start his car he was on his way, cranking the heat to maximum and setting out for the park that he had had the foresight to memorise the location of.

Eventually he pulled up and began driving slowly; figuring Anders may have taken shelter in a building nearby and would be trying to catch a glimpse of him when he arrived.

“Shit.”

Anders caught sight of him arriving alright, just not from where he’d hoped.

The blond was standing in the bus shelter looking like a drowned rat as the wind whipped the rain in and out of the structure like it didn’t even exist. He honked the horn and grabbed the blanket from the back seat as Anders sprinted over, practically hurling himself inside the moment the door opened.

“Jesus fucking Christ that’s cold!” was the greeting he got, although considering how saturated Anders was he really couldn’t blame him.

He handed the blanket to his lover without any preamble. “Get this around you,” he instructed, helping him remove his coat and tossing it carelessly into the back seat. “And get the heater on you, you need to warm up.”

He pulled away from the curb once he was satisfied Anders was belted in and had every warmth provider in the car focused on him. “Fuck baby I am so sorry,” he apologised, rubbing his left hand on the blonds shoulder vigorously in the hopes of creating a little more heat.

“What took you so long?” Anders asked through chattering teeth, glancing at his dark-haired and infuriatingly dry lover. “I was freezing my tits off out there.”

The vampire couldn’t help but glance over at him in concern at the shivering and drove a little faster. “Goddam car wouldn’t start. I had to get someone to jump start me and the hospital was running off generators the moment the power went out so it was a little hectic.”

A muttered curse told Mitchell exactly what Anders thought about that. “What the fuck?” he grumbled. “Why have both our cars shit themselves? We’ll both be without at this rate.”

“Don’t know and don’t really care right now.” He replied. “All I want to know is why the hell you were in the bus shelter rather than inside a building.”

“Believe me it wasn’t by choice,” Anders told him, letting out a shaky breath as shivers wracked his body. “As soon as I got to the bus stop I sprinted across to the shops, but they’d closed their doors due to the power outage. Probably to stop any opportunists. Didn’t have much of a choice after that.”

Mitchell shook his head and continued to rub Anders shoulder through the blanket as he drove as he tried to hide his concern for the fact that his lover was shivering more than what he thought he should be.

 

* * *

 

They arrived home twenty minutes later, Mitchell unbelievably grateful he’d chosen to go the back way when he realised the traffic lights would be out and they’d likely be stuck in queues for much longer. The moment he had parked the car they were out, Anders quickly unlocking the door and holding it open for him and they both sprinted up the stairs to their apartment armed with the flashlights on their phones.

“Get straight in the shower and for god sakes have the water as hot as you can get it, it should be fine for the next hour or so considering its gas and the last thing you need is to get sick. I’ll get the fire going.”

Anders threw him a sloppy salute as he waltzed off to the bathroom. “Yes mum.”

He shook his head affectionately and headed over to the open fireplace, moving through the motions quickly and efficiently to get a small fire going. As he built it up he gathered the pillows and blankets from the bedroom and after some digging through the hall cupboard found the blow up mattress Anders had been given when he did some PR work for a hiking and camping company. Grabbing that, the pump and a few other bits and pieces that meant they’d be able to have some form of dinner that night he began setting up, ensuring to have a few candles on the table and kitchen counter lit for added visibility.

Eventually the bathroom door opened and steam billowed out, and much to Mitchell’s relief Anders cheeks had a lovely pink tinge to them rather than the white he had sported earlier. The pink was certainly a lovely contrast to the fluffy cream towel the god had slung around his waist loosely. “How do you feel?” He asked as Anders strolled towards him, rubbing another towel over his hair in an effort to get it dry. “Better?”

“Warmer. Showering in the dark is certainly a weird experience though,” Anders answered with a small smile. He dropped the towel onto the kitchen table and took in the scene before him. “Well this is certainly looking promising.”

“Well considering we have no power for the near future, you got soaked and we need dinner I figured why not fix all our problems in the one place.”

“And how is me getting soaked going to be resolved in here? I did just have a shower.”

“Yet there’s still a chance of you getting sick. I hate to think how long you were waiting in the rain for and I’d prefer it if we slept in front of the fire where you could stay warm.”

“Well…” Anders drawled, stepping forwards and allowing the towel still around his waist to slip from his hips revealing him in all his naked glory.

And oh what a glorious and tantalising glory he was.

“…I can think of other things that might warm me up.”

Mitchell groaned as he felt his cock stir almost unwillingly. Here he was trying to make sure Anders didn’t get sick and instead the god decided to strut around butt naked. “Anders,” he tried, already knowing it was hopeless but was determined to give it a shot anyway. “Babe, you really need to put some clothes on and stay warm.”

“Or perhaps…” Anders contradicted, biting the corner of his lip as he trailed his fingers down the vampire’s lean chest and let his fingers rest on his cock that was making a valiant effort to break free. “I need you inside of me, filling me up and thrusting hard, and deep, and pounding me into oblivion until the only thing I remember is your name.”

Mitchell didn’t stand much of a chance after that.

His cock wouldn’t let him.

 

 

Later as Anders was dozing lightly on the couch, neither had been willing to put the mattress to the test on what it could possibly handle, he set about making some dinner for them both and frowned when his lover coughed.

It was only small and something he had expected after being exposed to the rain for so long so he shrugged it off and prepared their food in the camping pots and pans.

If only he’d paid more attention.

 

* * *

 

Several days passed and things went back to normal. The power came back on (Anders had started panicking that the storm would be the death of his fish), the weather cleared up overnight and the pair, after getting their cars repaired went about their lives as usual.

The only difference was the cough that lingered.

What had started off as a small irritation, as though his lover was trying to clear his throat, it slowly grew bigger to the point where Anders was coughing regularly; each one wet and rattling in his lungs leaving him looking extremely uncomfortable.

“Anders seriously,” Mitchell sighed after another bout that left the blond hunched over and rubbing his throat. “I think you need to go to the doctors and get it checked out. Or at the very least have Michele take a look at it.”

Anders glared up at him through watery eyes. “I’m not letting that bitch near me,” he rasped. “I’m taking some medication for it; it’ll be fine in a few days. It probably sounds worse because Dawn and I have been run off our feet with these new contracts.” A group of companies had been screwed over by a crooked PR agent and left floundering which, luckily for JPR, he and Dawn had swooped in at the right time and had been promised double payments plus full contracts if they could deliver by the end of the week, a goal they were very close to completing.

Mitchell sighed and rubbed his back soothingly as started coughing again. “I really think you should -”

“I’m fine Mitchell. I’m not sick, it’s just a cough. Besides if I go to a doctor I’ll be healthy going in and end up contracting glandular fever or something coming out.”

Mitchell shook his head in exasperation. “That’s not how it works babe.”

“Might as well be,” Anders grumbled back.

The vampire rolled his eyes at his partner’s dramatics. If that’s what Anders believed happened every time someone set foot in a doctor’s clinic or hospital no wonder he was terrified of the bloody places.

“Look can you just… just promise me that if it gets worse you’ll go get seen. For me.”

The blond was about to complain when he saw the look of worry on Mitchell’s face. “Ok,” he promised. “If it gets worse I’ll go.”

 

* * *

 

Over the next few days Anders was up before sunrise and in bed well after midnight working furiously to meet the looming deadlines and the lack of sleep was beginning to take its toll.

Mitchell was left watching with growing concern as his lover slowly became run down. Dark bags were appearing under his eyes, he was sluggish and quiet as though normal conversation was becoming more difficult to participate in and he was more often than not drifting off to sleep the moment he sat down on the couch.

But his cough… his cough was worse.

Much worse.

Hearing the wheezing and soft groans of pain after a fit had left Mitchell ready to tear his hair out by the roots in frustration. Anders had clearly not bothered to go and get medical attention and the moment Saturday came around and he had no contracts left to complete he was going to let him sleep in before dragging him to Michele or the hospital, after hour costs be damned.

 

* * *

 

He was certain he’d never been more thankful for a weekend than he was for this one. Anders had finally completed the contracts last night and after literally dragging him home he’d shoved Chinese takeaway at him, forced several aspirin down his throat (figuratively speaking because he knew Anders would bite his hand off if he actually tried) and then bundled him up in bed, all before nine o’clock.

It was obvious how shitty his lover was feeling when he put up no fight at all.

Carefully rolling out of bed so he didn’t wake Anders who was breathing through his mouth due to his nose being clogged he dressed quickly, grabbing his phone and wallet before creeping out of the room.

He figured a nice hot breakfast would win Anders over before he got him in the car and took him to see someone, and he couldn’t help the snort that escaped him when he realised the blond was just as bad as trying to get an animal to the vets.

Anders had always been a little wild.

 

 

The shopping had taken a little longer than expected, but with the bags in tow he quickly unlocked the door and waddled inside with his load.

“Next time you’re coming shopping with me,” the vampire grumbled about his lover to himself as he smacked his knuckles against the doorjamb. “That’s the last time I do the groceries on my own.” He certainly hadn’t expected to come back with as much as what he did but he’d remembered the moment he entered the supermarket that their fridge and cupboards were getting bare and had ended up doing a full shop rather than just getting stuff for breakfast.

He was good like that.

As he rounded the corner, contemplating whether to start on the breakfast first or wake Anders with a coffee and a kiss he stopped in horror, the bags thudding to the ground as his fingers went slack.

“ShitshitSHIT!”

Diving forward he skidded on his knees to the blonds side, hissing when broken bits of porcelain cut deeply into his legs.

Anders was sprawled on the ground, face first and limbs askew with the broken remnants from what appeared to be the coffee he had gone to fetch for himself. He rolled the god onto his back gently and swallowed nervously at the sight of pale skin that stood out in stark contrast to the bags beneath his eyes, as well as the shallow but rapid breathing that flooded his ears.

“Jesus baby,” he moaned, pulling his cell phone from his pocket and dialling emergency services. He had no idea if Michele was home or working and he preferred to get Anders treated where the goddess could step in later rather than wasting precious time waiting for her to answer.

 

 

After giving the call centre their address he sat on the floor cradling Anders to his chest, rocking the unconscious god gently and trailing his fingers over his face every now and again, desperately trying to ignore the wheezing that had begun and the heat that was rolling off him in waves.

_How had he missed that earlier?_

Finally, after what felt like hours of a long agonising wait there was a knock on the door announcing the arrival of the paramedics. Leaving Anders lying on the floor was harder than he would have thought possible but he knew there was no choice if he were to get the help he needed.

“Please, you have to help him,” he begged the moment he opened the door, stepping aside to let the pair with a stretcher through.

“We’ll do our best,” the woman promised him with a smile, crouching down beside her partner as she began checking Anders vitals. “What’s your name?”

“Mitchell, this is Anders.”

“Hi Mitchell my name’s Lila and this is my partner Philip, and I promise we’re going to do everything we can to help him. Has he been sick recently?”

The brunet nodded, removing the thumb from his mouth that he’d begun chewing on absently as they checked his lover over. “He got caught out in that storm last week but he got in the shower as soon as we got home and we slept in front of the fire to stay warm.”

Philip glanced up at him as his fingers checked Anders pulse. “Anything else?”

“He’s been rundown all week because of work?”

Both medics nodded at that. “That’ll just about do it.”

Mitchell watched as they checked a few other things before hooking Anders up to a heart rate monitor and inserted an IV line. “There are definite signs of a chest infection so we’ll give him some antibiotics and get him to the hospital.” Philip told him. “It sounds like he may have pneumonia but it’d be best to let them confirm that.

Despite his fear and worry over the situation Mitchell couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh he’s going to love me when he wakes up.”

If their chuckles were anything to go by the sarcasm in his voice wasn’t lost on either of them.

 

* * *

 

**_How is he?_ **

_Idiot managed to get pneumonia and is also suffering from exhaustion. Are you feeling ok?_

**_Well he’s not always the brightest cookie in jar. And I’m fine Mitch, Ty’s keeping an eye on me._ **

_I noticed -.- Good. He’d probably kill both of us if you ended up sick Dawn._

**_So I’ve been told, about three times since you called might I add :)_ **

_Where is he now?_

**_Rounding up the others, they’ll meet you at the hospital in an hour or so. He’s had to fetch Olaf from Piha because he lost his keys in the surf again._ **

_Doesn’t he have a spare?_

**_Those were the spares._ **

 

Mitchell snorted a laugh at the reply, grinning as he continued his banter with his friend as he waited for Anders to wake up. Much to his relief his blond wasn’t in serious danger of suddenly dying on him, and when Michele arrived and checked him out of the hospital so she could treat him at Mike’s he’d be out of danger full stop. He just had to wait for them to arrive.

“Don’t you dare say I told you so.”

The vampire flinched so violently at the raspy yet grumpy voice he almost toppled out of his chair and winced when his phone hit the floor with a smack. He glanced up at the god and grinned at the sight of sleepy baby-blues peering out at him from beneath a sea of golden eye lashes.

“You’re awake,” he breathed in relief, hauling himself out from the chair near the head of the bed to sit on the mattress beside him as he took one of his hands into his own. “How’re you feeling?”

“Like I got steam rolled by an elephant.” Anders paused for moment as he thought it over. “Or that I got punched by Dawn because I pissed her off. Either works here I think.”

Mitchell shook his head with a fond smile before sobering. “Well considering the diagnosis I’m not surprised,” he told his partner in a serious voice. “I could’ve lost you today. You have no idea how terrifying that was for me.”

“Sorry babe,” the blond replied, squeezing Mitchell’s hand gently. “I didn’t realise it would get this bad.”

“Wouldn’t get this -?!” Mitchell spluttered indignantly. “Anders what did I say -”

“I said not to say ‘I told you so’ John -”

“I haven’t said it yet Anders Johnson but don’t tempt me or I bloody well will! What did I say last week? ‘Go to the doctor’s Anders, get it checked out or go see Michele.’ And what did you say? -”

“Fuck off?” Anders supplied helpfully in a tired voice, only to grumble when Mitchell pinched his arm.

“You said ‘yes my one true love! I shall give in to your request and go see someone -”

“That’s certainly not how I remember it,” Anders muttered.

Mitchell stopped and frowned at his lover. “It doesn’t matter how you said it Anders, the point is you promised to get seen if it got worse and you didn’t. I don’t know what I would do if I lost you and it terrifies me that I may have had to face that this morning.”

Instead of answering straight away Anders shuffled across the bed to make room for his vampire and patted the mattress in emphasis when Mitchell didn’t immediately move. Somewhat reluctantly because he was annoyed with the blond yet in need of the closeness all the same Mitchell climbed onto the bed and lay down, opening his arms for Anders to curl up in.

“I’m sorry,” Anders told him with a sigh when he was tucked into the vampire’s side with his arm securely round his waist. “I really am. We’ve been so busy lately and I didn’t think it would get this bad.”

Mitchell sighed “I know babe, I know. Just next time…”

“Next time get checked out when asked rather than bitching about it,” Anders finished for him. “I know and I promise. Now, get me out of here?”

“Your brothers and Michele are on the way.” He told him. “She’ll sign you out and use Yggdrasil and you’ll be good to go most likely.”

“Good,” Anders replied around a yawn. “That’s good.”

Mitchell couldn’t help but smile as Anders snuggled into him and ran his fingers through the blond hair, stroking softly and keeping his nose close so he could inhale his lover’s scent. It was as he was listening to his god’s breathing steady out that a thought struck him making him grin.

“And Anders?”

“Hmm?” the blond god hummed sleepily.

“Told you so.”

**Author's Note:**

> I apologise if it seems rushed or off in any parts. If it does please let me know and I'll have another look through it, I've been pretty tired the last couple of days so I may have missed something :)
> 
> Although New Zealand's weather center (MetService) is good at giving us relatively accurate forecasts, they aren’t always the greatest. Working for a scenic flights company has made correct weather predictions crucial for my job and I’ve come to learn to expect anything. We had an entire month where MetService got the weather wrong to the point we thought they had gone on holiday. Auckland is probably a bit luckier weather-wise as it’s somewhat sheltered and not directly next to open expanses of sea so it’s rare unexpected circumstances like this happen, but it’s not impossible as I've lived through four seasons in a matter of hours there - sun, cloudy, thunderstorms, hail and back to sunny again all before 2pm.
> 
> Piha - pronounced Pee-Ha, is one of if not NZ's most notorious beach. The surfing is incredible and due to being located on the west coast of the North Island, about an hour or so out of Auckland, it's a black-sand beach, however the ocean is even more unpredictable than most other beaches in NZ. During summer the life guards are some of the busiest around and also help out nearby beaches and Surf Lifesaving clubs if required, there are rips that appear out of the blue and many inexperienced swimmers and tourists get swept out to sea or out towards some pretty dangerous rocks. If you ever visit, always swim between the flags and it wouldn't hurt to check when the low and high tides will occur, ESPECIALLY if you go walking around the cliffs for photos. In fact this beach is so notorious it even has it's own TV show "Piha Rescue" which shows some of the rescues and situations these life guards deal with. It's a great watch and you're constantly on edge. If you can find it, watch it :)


End file.
